Duotone Tutorial

Ever notice how most digital black & whites look sort of washed out? That’s because they’re using what an off-set printer would call an “unsupported” black. When a graphic designer wants a pure, rich black they use a black “supported” with additional inks making a dark silky black instead of a sort of dark grey that would appear if you used just black ink.

Well, the same principle applies to black and white photos. By blending additional inks into your black and whites you get a richer tonal range which gives you more details in your highlights… a complaint many film shooters have about digital images.

Take a look at these for example, a black and white made by just desaturating the colors vs. a duotone (or tritone) image. As you can see by using additional inks you can create black and whites with a lot more visual appeal.

Good news is duotones are very easy, and I made a quick video tutorial to show you how. Enjoy!

If you don’t already have a copy of Adobe Lightroom I highly recommend it. Available at B&H (with a $50 discount through 1/2/11)

Thanks for taking the time to put this tutorial together. I look forward to experimenting with DuoTones in Photoshop. I have used the Split Toning in Lightroom and this looks more flexible. Do you ever use the split toning in Lightroom?

I love the video tutorial, Jake! You should keep doing these. I tend to have trouble getting the results I want in Photoshop (I know my way around Lightroom 2 really well and can do most of what I want using it, but sometimes you just can’t avoid Photoshop). Videos like this are great for learning some basic, yet essential, skills which makes it easier to turn more complicated ideas into a reality.

Thanks for sharing this! This effect is kind of what I want but didnt know how to get it. Kind of accidently Ive managed to reach something close to this at a critical project, but I didnt know what I did that time =)

Jake. I hate you. Every time I am blissfully, and naively happy with my editing process you show me something else (like neck wrinkles -grrr) and I have to re-evaluate everything. Shame on you. Before this moment I was strangely proud of my black and whites…

I tried it out and it seems you have to convert to 8 bit mode first? For that reason alone it makes me a little unhappy. Also I didn’t fall in love with any of the presets, even after messing with the ink curves. Maybe if I create my own presets . . .